UN: Cambodia verdict a warning to North Korea, IS, Philippines
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — The life sentences given to two former leaders of the Khmer Rouge should serve as a warning to other rights abusers, including in North Korea, the Philippines and the Islamic State group, a United Nations envoy said Wednesday.
A UN-backed court in Cambodia dismissed an appeal against lifetime jail sentences meted out to Nuon Chea, 90, Khieu Samphan, 85.
The pair were senior leaders of a regime responsible for the deaths of up to two million Cambodians from 1975 to 1979.
“The long arm of international justice ultimately can prevail,” David Scheffer, the UN Secretary-General’s envoy to the tribunal, told reporters after the verdict.
“Holding senior leaders accountable for the perpetration of atrocity crimes under their leadership does happen, it does ultimately occur,” he added.
He then mentioned a number of specific countries where leaders should “take note [of] what happened today.” These are the Philippines, South Sudan, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Syria and North Korea. He also named the Islamic State group, which has committed widespread atrocities across swathes of Iraq and Syria.
“What happened today in this courtroom ultimately can reach their domain because international justice is not backing down,” Mr. Scheffer said.
The Khmer Rouge regime dismantled modern society in Cambodia in their quest for an agrarian Marxist utopia, killing vast numbers and leaving a generational scar.
Some analysts have compared the Khmer Rouge to the Islamic State group, for their ruthless pursuit of revolution and sheer barbarity.
But while the court has brought a handful of senior Khmer Rouge leaders to book, the vast majority of perpetrators remain unpunished.
The movement’s leader Pol Pot died in 1998, and the government of Cambodian strongman Hun Sen has become increasingly wary about prosecuting lower level cadres.
UN RAPPORTEUR’S VISIT
Meanwhile, United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Executions Agnes Callamard is scheduled to visit the Philippines “in the first quarter of 2017” to begin her investigation on the alleged summary killings in the course of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s war on illegal drugs.
In a briefing note, Ms. Callamard said she had responded to the Philippine government’s invitation on Nov. 11 which went thus: “The Special Rapporteur sent a reply to the Government of the Philippine welcoming the invitation and expressing her commitment in undertaking such a visit in 2017 in full accordance with the Terms of Reference for Fact-Finding Missions by Special Rapporteurs.”
“She reminded the Government of her previous communications and reiterated her interest in a joint visit with the Special Rapporteur on the right to health, along with the organization of a joint expert consultation on drug control strategies and policies,” the briefing note also read in part.
To recall, Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea on Sept. 26 sent a letter to Ms. Callamard, upon Mr. Duterte’s instruction, to ask the UN rapporteur to look into drug- related killings in the Philippines and “the circumstances surrounding the killing of our policemen during legitimate operations.”
In a Senate budget hearing last week, Senator Paolo Benigno A. Aquino IV confirmed Ms. Callamard’s answer to the invitation and disclosed the special rapporteur’s conditions: • Freedom of movement in the whole country
including the facilitation of transport and particularly, including on restricted areas; • Freedom on inquiry with regard to access to all
prisons, detention centers and places of interrogations; • Contacts with central and local authorities; • Contacts with representatives of non-governmental organization and media; • Confidential and unsupervised contact with
witnesses and other private persons including persons deprived of their liberty considered necessary to fulfill the mandate of her job; • Full access to all documentary records relevant to
the mandate; • Assurance by the government that persons,
whether officials or private individuals who have been in contact with her, will not as a result suffer threats, harassment or punishment or be subjected to judicial proceedings; • Appropriate security arrangements without, however,
restricting the freedom of movement and inquiry referred to above
Mr. Aquino also noted that among the conditions that Mr. Duterte imposed was a debate between him and Ms. Callamard.
Asked if such a condition was usual for a host country, the senator said: “No it’s not usual. It is not usual but of course it is our right to also ask for these conditions as other conditions have been asked of us.”
Malacañang said yesterday an inter-agency body is already deliberating the conditions set by Ms. Callamard. —